Liquid cooler



`R. MARKLEY, JR

LIQUID COOLER Filed July 3l, 1936 Patented Jan. 24, 1939 UNITED STATESPATENT oFFicE LIQUID COOLER Application July 31, 1936, Serial No. 93,739

11 Claims.

Liquid coolers are suitable and adaptable for use in many varied ways,but for the purpose of illustrating one form which the present inventionmay take I have in the drawing and in the hereinafter followingdescription illustrated and made reference to a liquid cooler which isparticularly adapted for the purpose of cooling milk in. cans.

The agitator which comprises a very important feature of the presentinvention is a particularly 4advantageous additionv to a cooler utilizedfor the purpose of cooling milk for the reason that it has been foundnecessary to cool milk as rapidly and quickly as possible, and myimproved agitator when applied to a milk cooling cabinet speeds upgreatly the refrigerating or cooling action of the cooler with theresult that a rapid cooling of the milk can be quickly obtained.

Although in the drawing and description I have illustrated a liquidcooler cabinet in which the water or other liquid is cooled by avertically disposed cooling coil it is to be understood that the coilcould be disposed horizontally or otherwise or that the coil could beentirely dispensed with and replaced by ice or any other well knowncooling or reirigerating medium.

I have found however that an electric refrigerating medium in the formof a vertically disposed coil constructed and installed in the cabinetin the manner illustrated in the drawing and hereinafter described, isparticularly well adapted for obtaining rapid cooling of the liquid.Notwithstanding this fact it is to be distinctly understood that thepresent invention is not limited to a cabinet built in exact accord withthat illustrated and described nor to a refrigerating element built andinstalled in theexact 'manner illustrated and described, but to thecontrary my present improved Water or liquid impeller or agitator willwhen applied to any liquid cooler speed up materially the cooling of theliquid, and is therefore an invention which can be advantageously usedin connection with any liquid cooler.

I have found that the oper-ation of a liquid cooler is materiallyspeededv up by providing means to cause a circulation of the water to.be cooled over, about or around the refrigerating element or medium. Ihave also found that to accomplish this circulation of the liquid theimpeller or agitator to obtain the best results should be constructedsothat in its operation eddying of the liquid is reduced to the minimumif not entirely eliminated, all of which will be explained in moredetail hereinafter.

From the foregoing it will be obvious that the present invention has asan object the provision (c1. ca -101)' of a liquid cooler which ishighly eiiicient an rapid in operation. Another object will beunderstood as being that of providing in combination with a liquidcooler improved means for causing 'invention showing its application toa liquid cooler or cabinet utilizing a vertically disposed coil as therefrigerating element, a portion of the figure being .broken away andshown in section to better illustrate the invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary enlarged view in vertical section illustratingthe movement of the liquid obtained when the agitator or impeller is inoperation.

It being understood, as mentioned, that the drawing illustrates only oneembodiment which the invention may take, specific description of thecooler and cabinet appearing in the drawing will now be given.

A rectangular cabinet i is provided with a top comprising a fixedportion 2 and a hinged portion 3. This cabinet is preferably formed withspaced walls between which are arranged insulating material, but theparticular configuration and structure of the cabinet forms no part ofthe present invention and further detail description of it isunnecessary.

The refrigerating element, when a vertically disposed coil type isutilized, is preferably sevcured to the rear wallof the cabinet by abracket 4. The cooling coil is illustrated at 5 and a refrigerant isada'pted to be circulated through this coil in the well understoodmanner common to refrigerating coils and as the means for producing andcausing the circulation of the refrigerant forms no part of the presentinvention and as any of the well known makes of machines'now in use canybe used for this purpose no illustration of it is'glven norV is anydetail description o! it considered necessary.

The coil is preferably mounted between batiies one of which isdesignated at 1 and is positioned at the front or outer side of the coiland is supported by a bracket 6 which is secured to the bracket l. Theother baille is designated at 'I' and is carried by the bracket 4. Bothoi' these baiiles are preferably in actual and intimate contact with thecoils and serve as fins for transmitting heat from the water, in whichthe coil and baiiles are submerged, to the coil. The baffles 'I and Iterminate short of the top and bottom of the coil but are completelysubmerged within the water to be cooled, as clearly appears in Figure 2of the drawing.

In utilizing the cabinet or cooler for` cooling milk in cans the cansare placed within the cabinet and completely submerged within the water.Due to the baille arrangement there is a natural circulation of waterdue to the fact that the water enclosed between the bailles is quicklyrefrigerated and tends to settle to the bottom thus drawing warm waterto the coils. I'his water circulation is inherent in a liquid coolerbuilt in the manner thus far described.

It has been found however, that this natural circulation of water'is notsuilciently rapid to obtain the rapid cooling of the water and in turnthe rapid cooling of the milk which is necessary and desirable. It isfor this reason that the present improved agitator or impeller isutilized in conjunction with the cooler cabinet.

Referring now to the impeller or agitator it will be seen that angleirons 8 and 9 are secured to the bracket 6 and that a guard I0 is inturn secured to and supported by these angle irons.

The fixed top portion 2 of the cabinet is provided with brackets I Icarrying an electric motor I2 the shaft I3 of which is verticallydisposed and extends into a suitable opening Id formed in the top andthrough the medium of a coupling member I5 has connection with avertically disposed shaft extension I6 carrying at its lower end apropeller I 'I preferably disposed slightly below the guard I0 toprevent the propeller from being in- :lured by milk ca'ns as they areplaced into or removed from the cabinet.

A disc I8 which for want of a better' name I have termed a turbulencedisc, is secured tothe propeller shaft I 6 at a point slightly above theguard I0 and this disc is fixed to and revolves with the shaft.

It is to be noted that the propeller and its disc are quite close to thesurface of the Water. By placing the propeller in this position i-t ispossible to use a short propeller shaft, and due to the shortness of theshaft any tendency for the shaft to whip is eliminated notwithstandingthe fact that no shaft bearing is provided.

A s hort propeller shaft and the elimination of a shaft bearing ishowever only one of the advantages of placing the propeller close to.the water surface or level. To bring about the rapid cooling of thewater it is desirable to pull or force the warmsurface water downwardlyand mix it with the cool water adjacent the bottomvof the cabinet andalso to cause circulation of the water about the refrigerating elementor the refrigerating medium or coll 5. However, without provision of thedisc I8 it would be impossible to place the impeller as described. Thisdisc prevents water swirl or eddying which would be inherent inconnection with the use of a propeller placedv close to the surface ofthe water. Without thisdisc there would be swirling and eddying andlarge quantities of air would unquestionably be pulled or sucked downthrough the water and particularly around the rotating propeller shaft.This swirling or eddying would reduce materially the circulation of thewater by the propeller and would cause objectionable noise and wouldadditionally cause vibration. The vibration would be extremelydisadvantageous and would require a propeller shaft bearing. Furthermorethe vibration would increase thewear on the working parts and would ofcourse shorten the life of the entire unit.

The provision of the turbulence disc has, I have found, overcome all ofthese objections and has permitted the positioning of the propellerclosely adjacentor only slightly below the water surface to obtain allof the advantages due to this particular positioning of the propeller.The disc permits the use of a propeller or impeller having largerxbladesthan would be possible without the provision of the disc with the resultthat the impeller can circulate and move alarge volume of water perminute. It is of course to be understood that the size of the propeller,the pitch of the blades and thespeed or revolution of the propeller canall be varied and adjusted to suit the particular conditions to be met.

In actual operation of a cooler such as is here shown and described,assuming that the water level is, slightly above the upper edges of thebailles and that a refrigerant is being forced through the coils, thewater will start to circulate as the Water between the bailles becomesquickly refrigerated and settles to the bottom and thereby drawing tothe coils the warm water. When the electric motor is started and thepropeller is revolved at the desired and proper speed an additionalcirculation of the water within the cabinet is obtained and thisadditional circulation is suchthat the water is forced downwardly in alldirections and as the propeller is preferably located adjacent the coilbaffles the water which is forced downwardly will pass under the loweredges of the battles and up and through the coils and enter the mainvolume of water in a much cooler condition with the result that as thisoperation is repeated continuously the water within the cabinet can becooled quickly and rapidly to any desired tern- .perature and can bemaintained at that temperature so as to quickly and rapidly cool themilk within the cans and maintain the milk in` a cool conditionthroughout any period of time desired. It has actually been found thatit is only necessary, once the milk has been cooled to the desiredtemperature, to operate the propeller at intervals.

In speaking of the ability of the present invention to rapidly cool milkI have reference not only to a cooler having a mechanical refrigeratingelement but to any cooler irrespective of the particular type ofrefrigerating element utilized as a means for cooling the water. Theimportant feature is that of the circulation of Water caused by thepropeller and the construction of the propeller or impeller whichpermits it to be positioned at a point only slightly below the surfaceof the water.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have -provided an improvedmeans for circulating type of refrigerating element, to a liquid coolerof any particular configuration or construction, or that the propellerbe necessarily driven by an electric motor as other driving means forthe propeller can be equally well utilized.

, a anaestmlmpomtcrauhmmutnepmvmon.

of the turbulencedisc which enables the impelier or agitator to bepositioned closely adjacent the surface of the water so as to have-allof the aforementioned and enumerated advantages and to guard positivelyagainst churning the water or causing water eddies which would tend tode `crease to a very large degree theemciency of the propeller in movinga large volume of water rapidly.

Attention is also directed to the fact that the impeller or agitator isconstructed as a unit and therefore it need not be originally built intothe cooler but as a unit can be quickly and readily Vapplied to and usedin conjunction with coolers already manufactured and in use.

I claim:

1. 1n a. uquic cooler of the und described. the

combination with a container adapted to contain water in which cans ofliquid are submergedfor cooling, means'. disposed within said containerfor cooling said water, baiiles arranged at opposite sides of saidcooling means, said baiiiester- Inlnating short of the water levelinsaid container and terminating short Yof the bottom of the container,and va propeller mounted within the water of the container at a pointslightly below the surface ofthe water andhaving its axis arranged atright angles to the surface, of said water, means to drive saidpropeller, and means 'in theform of-a disc mounted above said propellerfor preventing churning vandeddying of the water by thepropeller.

2. In a liquid cooler of the kind described, the

combinationwith a container adapted to con-l tainwater in which cans ofliquid aresubmerged for cooling, of a cooling coil disposed withinV saidvcontainer carrying a baille, the baille terminating short of the topand bottom of the coils and adapted to be submerged within the water anda propeller mounted within the water. lof vthc container at a pointslightly below the surface ofthe water and having its axis arranged atright angles to the surface of the water anda turbulence disc disposedin ahorizontal plane above the propeller and below the water surface.

3. A milk cooierof/ the'kind described, comprising a cabinet adapted tocontain water in which cans of milk are disposed, a cooling coil throughwhich a refrigerant, is adapted to pass disposed in said cabinet, a bamefor said coil ter. minating short of the top'and bottom of said coll andadapted to be submerged within the water of the cabinet, a verticallydisposed propeller shaftF extending through'the top of said cabinet andhaving a propeller mounted on the lower end thereof for causing acirculation of the water withinthe cabinet anda turbulence disc`mountedon said propeller shaft above said propellei-,forthepurposedescribed.

4'. A milk coolingcabinet havingla nxed andmovabletopandadsptedtocontainacooling medium such as water, a coolingcoil disposed alongfonewallof said cabinet and spacedtherefrom,abaiilearrangedagainsttheinnerfaceofsaidcoilterminatlnsshortofthetopandbottom of said coil to provide aspace between said bane' and the inner wall of'the cabinet, an electricmotor mounted onthe fixed topof said cabinet overvan opening disposedtherein, s vertically disposed propeller shaftcconneeted to themotorshaft and adapted to berotated thereby,apropellerilxedonthelowerendofsaidpropellershaftandaturbulsnoedisc'nxedonsaidpropeller shaft above said propeller and adapted to be rotatedtherewith.

5. In a device of the character described, the combination withacontainer adapted to contain liquid in 'whichcans of milk or the likeare submerged for cooling, container for cooling said liquid, apropeller within vsaid liquidV positioned adjacent the surface thereofand rotatable-on a vertical axis, a

. disc disposed slightly above said propeller and below the surface ofsaid liquid, and said disc being of a diameter at least as great as thediameter of the propeller, for the Purpose described.

6. In a device of the character described, the combination with acontainer adapted to contain liquid in which cans of milk or the likeare submerged for cooling, means disposed within said container forcooling said liquid, a propeller withvin the liquid of the container anddisposed slight- `ly below the surface thereof and rotatable one.

vertical axis, and means disposed between said `propeller and thesurface of said liquid to prevent said propeller from causing waterswirl and eddying such as would be naturally inherentin connection witha propeller rotating close to the surface of the liquid. a

7. In a device of the" character described, a container having liquidtherein, means to cool said liquid, a drive shaft vertically disposed insaid liquid, means to drive said shaft, a propeller .carried'by saidshaft and positioned slightly below ,the surface of the liquid in saidcontainer and through rotation on its vertical axis adapted to circulatewater from the surface of the liquid towards the bottom of thecontainer, and a disc of a diameter of at least as great as the diameter'of vthe .propeller positioned between said prof .peller and the surfaceof said liquid, for the lPurposes described.

f8. In a device of the character described, the combination with acontainer adapted to contain water in which cans of Aliquid aresubmerged for cooling, means disposed within said container for coolingsaid water, a propeller within the water face of the cooling medium `toprovide a-space between said baille and the inner wall of said cabinet,a vertically disposed propeller shaft extending into said cooling'medium and carrying a propeller disposed t/hereon at a point slightlybelow the surface of said coooling medium, means to drive said shaft,and a turbulence disc, disposed in a horizontal plane abovesaidpropeller and below the surface of said cooling medium,

'for the purpose described.

icmamucturesucnasdennedlnelaime,

means disposed within said' wherein the turbulence disc is fixed to'androtatable with said propeller shaft.

1l. In a construction such as defined in claim 9, wherein the turbulencedisc is of a diameter at least as great as the diameter of the propeller:lrllittis fixed to and rotatable with the propeller RICHARD MABKLBY.Ja.

